Anton Donkor and Amin Younes are having a tough time with Schalke coach Miron Muslic. He made his feelings clear on Thursday after training.

Among FC Schalke 04 fans, coach Miron Muslic is currently the biggest hero. The 42-year-old’s autographs are in high demand. This is not only due to the team’s attractive style of play, but also to his clear words. On Thursday, there were further examples of this.

When the Schalke players board the team bus on Friday afternoon to head to the Palatinate for their match against 1. FC Kaiserslautern (Saturday, 8:30 p.m./RTL and Sky), two players will once again be missing: Anton Donkor (27) and Amin Younes (32).

Muslic said of Donkor’s place in the stands during the 2-1 win over Hertha BSC: “I evaluate and reward based on performance. Accordingly, it was very, very clear to me.” Donkor started the preseason as the number one left back after Derry Murkin (Utrecht) left, but he had no chance against Vitalie Becker. Muslic would now even prefer to move right-footed Adrian Gantenbein to the left rather than field Donkor. And Younes is likely to be a candidate for an early departure following Muslic’s announcement on Thursday: “Amin is highly professional and gives 100 percent every day. But there are certain profiles that I prefer. There’s a reason why Peter Remmert played; you saw that in his first action. We need power, aggression, sprinting ability, and running intensity. We’ve been working on that for five, six, seven weeks. That’s obviously contrary to Amin’s profile.” Younes’ creativity and dribbling skills are not in demand.

The outlook is not good for the former national player, who failed to impress in his first year at Schalke, even though he was a member of the team council. Two goals and three assists in 25 games did not meet his expectations.